A Chance to Learn

More children are out of school in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world. That’s over 10 million children missing out on vital education. 

“Millions of Nigerian children have never set foot in a classroom – and this is a travesty,” says Peter Hawkins, who is UNICEF’s Representative in Nigeria.

“Perhaps equally tragic is the high number of children who make it into a classroom but never make the transition from primary school to secondary school – thereby cutting off their chances for a secure future.” 

Pupils and teacher concentrate on their school lesson in Nigeria.

While the education crisis in Nigeria is affecting children right across the country, some children are more likely to be affected than others.

These include girls, children with disabilities, and those from the poorest households. Children living on the streets or in remote areas, or who are displaced from their homes because of conflict, are far more likely to miss out on learning. 

How is UNICEF Helping? 

Thanks to generous regular support like yours, UNICEF has been helping children in Nigeria since 1953. Monthly gifts give more children to have the chance of a quality education, and to fulfil their potential. 

Together, we help to build classrooms, train teachers and provide temporary learning spaces in times of crisis so that children can keep up with their lessons. In 2024 alone, support like yours helped to ensure: 

• 4.2 million children continued learning during times of crisis 

• 5.6 million children received learning materials 

• 170,000 primary school teachers were supported to deliver quality education 

A group of girls concentrate on their studies during school.

One of the many ways we help out-of-school children is by supporting accelerated learning programmes in places like displacement camps.

These temporary learning spaces give children the chance to go to school – some for the very first time. They provide fast-track education where children can learn vital literacy and numeracy skills, as well as important life lessons. 

Yakaka’s Learning Fast! 

Yakaka will never forget the day she stepped into a classroom for the very first time. She was 10 years old and had never gone to school. She was still a baby when armed conflict forced her family to flee their home in Gajibo village, which is close Dikwa in northeast Nigeria. At the displacement camp they sought refuge in, there was no chance of learning, no school full of happy children. 

But then, thanks to amazing kindness like yours, UNICEF opened the camp’s very first learning centre. And Yakaka needed no encouragement to sign up. “I enrolled for the purpose of knowledge, “ she says. 

Yakaka smiles during class.

The learning centre at Dikwa is one of many supported by UNICEF. Strategically placed near to camps where displaced children are living, each centre gives out-of-school children a chance at education.  Yakaka is now one of many children who are part of a three-year programme designed to help them catch up and prepare for exams so they can go on to attend secondary school and continue their education. 

Yakaka, who hopes to become a doctor one day to help others, is making excellent progress. 

“Yakaka is one of the most regular children in my class,’’ says her teacher, Shettima. “She is also very inquisitive and asks questions on what she does not understand. She has improved over the five months since she enrolled,’’ he adds. 

Thanks to committed support like yours, Yakaka and her classmates are studying for a better future. You only have to listen to the excited chatter and happy laughter in their classroom to know how much that means to them!